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freedomdwarf1 -> RE: The Grand Jury has decided in Ferguson (11/27/2014 4:47:26 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ThirdWheelWanted
quote:
ORIGINAL: freedomdwarf1
It seems to me, to be able to make such a radical change requires the laws to be changed such that anyone, police or public, assailant or defender, that when someone is severely injured or killed has to face a charge of some sort and go through judicial process.
This, as I see it, is where the breakdown is occuring. The authorities are getting away with what the people see as excessive (and often lethal) force with impunity.
And as I've said many times in gun threads.... the mindset appears to be "gun first" without consideration of other means of apprehension or capture.
Just like the recent twelve year old who got shot playing with a toy gun and died.
That's two recent and completely avoidable deaths because of the "gun first" mindset.
You're ignoring the fact that Officer Wilson DID go through the judicial process. This wasn't handled internally by a police investigation. The DA brought the case before a Grand Jury, which found that there was insufficient evidence to hold a trial. That's step one of the judicial process.
As far as the rest of your "gun first" argument, it's ridiculous. In the Wilson/Brown incident, Brown assaulted a police and went for his weapon, after "allegedly" committing a strong arm robbery. (If he'd managed to get Wilson's weapon, I suspect we'd have had a dead cop.) Once you've done that, you deserve what you get.
The other incident, where the 12yo was shot, is troubling, but also understandable. The kid had an Airsoft gun. They're made to look as much like an actual gun as possible, with the exception of a small orange tip which I understand was missing in this case. Someone called 911 and reported that there was someone in the park with a weapon pointing it at people. The caller did say that it "might be a toy", but it's not clear if that was relayed to the officers. When the officers approached, the kid had the "gun" on a bench. They ordered him to stay still and keep his hands up. Instead he grabbed the "gun" off the bench and raised it. When you have a suspect ignoring instructions and raising a weapon, how long do you wait to see if it's a toy or not? If it was real, and they waited too long, he could have fired into the crowd or at the officers. I can just see the headlines "Officers stand by while gunman fires into crowd!" The death was a tragedy, but saying that the officers should have used other means first, when confronting a suspect armed with a "gun" is just illogical.
When I was a kid, we had toy guns that looked real. I remember my favorite was a cap-gun that was a fantastic replica of a PPK. They didn't even have the little orange tip. What we didn't have was the urban gang culture giving kids real guns. A kid with a gun is just as dangerous as an adult. I went shooting with a few friends a few years ago, and one brought his kids. They were 12 and 14. Both kids shot better then their dad.
This response speaks volumes about your gun culture.
As DomKen said: "He testified under a grant of immunity. Nothing he said in the grand jury can ever be used against him. The DA rolled out the red carpet for the guy."
And, from what I read in the Washington Post, the Grand Jury hearing is easier to pose a defense than in a full trial.
Whether that is true or not, I have no idea.
But, it seems to me that he should have been indicted and faced a trial.
That's what the community wanted and didn't get. They see it as a travesty of justice.
Why?? Because someone was killed and for no other reason than that.
My "gun first" argument still stands.
Why did they not consider other methods to bring this guy down?
They didn't, he got shot dead, unnecessarily in my books.
And can't your police disarm a 12yo boy without having to shoot him??
Even if it were a real gun instead of an airsoft, the fact that they shot him and he died is just mind-bogglingly ridiculous.
This is the mentality of the gun culture and it should be changed.
Sure, I had toy guns when I was a kid. Nobody took a blind bit of notice.
My kids had toy guns that actually shot real plastic pellets from a magazine (and they fucking hurt too!).
If somebody reported a kid wielding a gun in the park, you wouldn't have armed police surrounding them (and yes, we do have them). Their first response would be to approach the child innocently and calmly disarm them for further investigation.
What happened in the US?? First reaction - gun. He was shot dead. Completely avoidable IMHO.
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